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Leslie Parker looks in the mirror to decide if she likes the dress she tried on. "I look like a bubble," Parker said, smiling as she received many compliments from her friend Tiffany Alexander and the store's owner, Angela Harris, while shopping at the EdgyChic Boutique in Florissant on Friday, July 29, 2022.
Maeve Basler, 5, of Creve Coeur, compares the two unicorn fidget toys she picked out for her and her sister while her mom, Colleen Bassler, look at the sunglasses rack while shopping at EdgyChic Boutique in Florissant on Friday, July 29, 2022. Photo by Allie Schallert, aschallert@post-dispatch.com
Various clothing items and accessories are laid out on a table at the EdgyChic Boutique in Florissant on Friday, July 29, 2022.
FLORISSANT — It has been a rough several years for retail business. But on one busy corner in Florissant, a unique clothing store has found ways to thrive.
EdgyChic Boutique has been open for six years. It’s a small store — just 975 square feet, including room in the back — that sells colorful clothes to women of all sizes and shapes, from small to 3X, with some items up to 5X.
“Our goal is to bring happiness to a woman’s day and to inspire them to creatively express themselves through fashion, no matter what size they are,” said owner Angela Harris, 50, who considers herself a “curvy girl.”
When the pandemic hit, Harris adapted to fit the times. She temporarily closed the Florissant store — and permanently closed a location in Fairview Heights — and concentrated on online sales.
“We had to pivot from bricks to clicks,” she said.
The boutique already had an online presence, but during the lockdown she brought the store to its customers through social media, with live videos on Facebook Live, Instagram Live and Vimeo. She also took advantage of the COVID-lowered prices to rent a 5,000 square foot warehouse in Pontoon Beach to store her inventory and conduct her e-commerce.
“There’s nothing like making money while you sleep,” she said.
EdgyChic Boutique's owner Angela Harris, right, helps Elsie Hall, of Ferguson, find a hot pink shirt to go with a specific outfit at the store in Florissant on Friday, July 29, 2022. "I saw what I like so I came in to try," Hall said.
The physical store at 396 St. Ferdinand Street reopened in spring of 2021. Sales from that store and online are now about the same.
Another innovation came when she saw that someone was selling an old school bus. She bought it, revamped it and turned it into what she calls “a mobile boutique experience.” Along with plenty of clothes for sale, the bus has a dressing room, air conditioning and music.
“It’s a boutique on wheels,” she said.
She brings the bus to vendor and corporate events, fundraisers and parties. The concept is similar to a food truck, she said, but with clothes.
The store is imbued with Harris’s vivacious personality. She hand-picks every item that she sells, and everything is bright and bold. It looks like color exploded inside the store and landed on clothing in vivid, eye-catching designs.
“Color says a lot about you,” she said. “Fashion says a lot about a person before you say anything.”
Tiffany Alexander, of Atlanta, looks at a rack while shopping in the EdgyChic Boutique in Florissant on Friday, July 29, 2022. Alexander is from the area and still watches the live streams the store has. Photo by Allie Schallert, aschallert@post-dispatch.com
Harris’s interest in fashion began when she was a little girl. She intentionally wore mismatched socks and delighted in mixing prints such as polka dots and plaid.
“I always had a different flair from others. I was always uniquely me,” she said.
“My mom allowed me to be who I was. Actually, she encouraged it.”
This sense of style is evident throughout the store. Just inside the door is a rack of glasses and sunglasses in dazzling designs. Rhinestone and bead-emblazoned sandals are at the front counter. Vivid, sleek kimonos hang against the far wall.
But a quieter side of her personality is displayed elsewhere. Signs with inspirational or motivational phrases hang high on the walls: “Do what makes you happy.” “Begin each day with a grateful heart.”
And of course: “Dreams do come true!”
Harris believes in motivational phrases. The bracelets she sells come with inspirational words printed on them (“I believe,” “Shine,” “Fearless,” “Thank God”). On Mondays, she posts what she calls Monday motivations on the store’s website (“Stop doubting yourself. Work hard and make it happen!”); Wednesdays are for Wednesday wisdom (“Spirit lead me where my trust is without borders,” which is the title of a Christian pop song).
A native of Hayti, in the Missouri Bootheel, Harris grew up in North County and went to Riverview Gardens High School. She received an undergraduate degree in business administration from Lindenwood University, and then an MBA from the University of Phoenix.
For 20 years, she worked as an executive for Macy’s in Earth City, serving as everything from a collections manager to a project manager to the head of the furniture department. The closest she ever came to actual sales happened when she was in charge of the bed and bedding department, and she trained the salespeople how to sell mattresses.
But she had a dream — she wanted to own her own business. When she was laid off along with 750 other employees at the company’s call center in Bridgeton in 2016, she knew that her time had come.
“It was now or never for me,” she said.
Her husband, Eric Harris, is the principal of Cross Keys Middle School in the Ferguson-Florissant School District. She described him as “very traditional — go to work, do your job and retire with a gold watch.”
“I am the opposite,” she said.
When she decided to open her own clothing boutique, she asked him how long he could carry her, financially, in order to get her business off the ground.
“He gave me six months. It’s been six years,” she said.
Last year, EdgyChic Boutique was voted the best boutique in North County by the Community News. Surprised by the honor at the time, Harris now attributes it to the experience that she offers — the service, the colors, the accommodating sizes, even the fact that each of her dressing rooms has a small fan.
“When people shop here, even if they’re alone, it’s like shopping with their girlfriends,” she said.
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Leslie Parker looks in the mirror to decide if she likes the dress she tried on. "I look like a bubble," Parker said, smiling as she received many compliments from her friend Tiffany Alexander and the store's owner, Angela Harris, while shopping at the EdgyChic Boutique in Florissant on Friday, July 29, 2022.
EdgyChic Boutique's owner Angela Harris, right, helps Elsie Hall, of Ferguson, find a hot pink shirt to go with a specific outfit at the store in Florissant on Friday, July 29, 2022. "I saw what I like so I came in to try," Hall said.
Tiffany Alexander, of Atlanta, looks at a rack while shopping in the EdgyChic Boutique in Florissant on Friday, July 29, 2022. Alexander is from the area and still watches the live streams the store has. Photo by Allie Schallert, aschallert@post-dispatch.com
Maeve Basler, 5, of Creve Coeur, compares the two unicorn fidget toys she picked out for her and her sister while her mom, Colleen Bassler, look at the sunglasses rack while shopping at EdgyChic Boutique in Florissant on Friday, July 29, 2022. Photo by Allie Schallert, aschallert@post-dispatch.com
Various clothing items and accessories are laid out on a table at the EdgyChic Boutique in Florissant on Friday, July 29, 2022.
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